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The second editionof this revolutionary book guides parents, teachers, and schools in implementing the beauty of a classical education with all children. Cheryl is an advocate of classical Christian education for students with special needs. The love of history, music, literature, and Latin instilled in her own children has created in Cheryl the desire to share the message that classical education offers benefits to any child.

Product Description

Who Will Benefit From This Book?

Parents of children with special needs. Whether the needs are mild and common, or more severe and complex. Some may not have heard of Classical Education, but they want the best possible education for their children. Others may be well-versed in Classical Education, but wonder whether their children with special needs can benefit from it. This book was written especially for you.

Anyone interested in a straightforward explanation of Classical Christian Education. Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child offers an accessible description of Classical Education and its implementation.

Teachers of special-needs students. Whether in a tutorial setting, classroom, cottage school setting, or homeschool, teachers of students with special needs will find encouragement, strategies, and resources in this book.

Families who wish to homeschool their children with special needs. Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child offers support and recommendations from toddlerhood through high school.

Parents who wonder whether a specific child might need further assessment. You will receive suggestions on informal and formal evaluations with screenings, charts, and tips for navigating the diagnostic process.

Classical school headmasters and teachers who know they are not meeting the educational needs of some struggling students. Find support in these pages for bringing classical education to students with special needs, rather than ask such students not to return. Schools may wish to better integrate these students into classical classrooms or design a “school within a school” in which smaller classrooms (perhaps K-3 and 4-8) provide a much slower pace overall. With improved strategies and methods, struggling students can continue to receive a classical education.

Anyone already engaged in the excellent pursuit of bringing classical Christian education to any child. This book is intended to encourage, inspire, and assist classroom teachers, homeschoolers, university professors, classical publishers, headmasters, and more.

Words From Readers

“I have met Cheryl’s daughter and indeed she is the recipient of a beautiful education, however unlikely. She surprises and delights with a knowledge and sensitivity one might never expect.Simply Classical gifts the reader with both wisdom and practical application, but perhaps more than anything cultivates a genuine hope for any parent of a special needs child—even those with serious challenges.”– Andrew Pudewa, Institute for Excellence in Writing, international speaker on the topic of home education and special needs

“Cheryl Swope ostensibly writes about special education, but she also makes one of the clearest and most compelling cases for classical education in print. I commend this book to parents and teachers of special-needs children, but also to anyone who desires a greater understanding of classical Christian education….If a child cannot accommodate the amount or depth of knowledge of most children, it is not less, but more important that what he learns be of the highest quality. She implicitly understands St. Thomas Aquinas’ principle that the slightest knowledge of the greatest things is greater than the greatest knowledge of the slightest things.”
– Martin Cothran

“A classical education is like climbing a mountain, each child benefiting from whatever vistas he or she attains in that upward journey. Cheryl Swope shows us that the special-needs child needs and benefits from the uplifting vision of a classical education as much if not more than those without learning challenges. Simply Classical gives encouragement and real help for all parents who do not want to settle for second best for their special-needs child. In doing so she has advanced the cause of classical Christian education by confounding its critics who claim it is only for the elite.”
– Cheryl Lowe

“The author of this book put heart and soul and real experience into this beautifully written explanation that every child deserves a quality classical education, whether they have learning disabilities or are advanced learners…”
-Kristen

“This is the best book I have ever read on homeschooling a special needs child. I have two such children and the tips and suggestions for curriculum are wonderful. I felt as if a dear friend took me by hand, sat down to tea with me and let me know that yes I can do this. She has given me hope for my children’s education. Thank you thank you!”
-Susan

“I have three mildly to moderately special needs boys ages 5, 12, and 13. This upcoming year with all three of them in school has been looming over my head in an overwhelming manner. This book has helped change my outlook from near despair to hopefulness.There are many ideas for incorporating schooling into all those times when doctor and therapy appointments interrupt the day, which has always been a stumbling point for me. There are also ideas of how to incorporate the therapy homework with school work in such practical and easy ways that make it seem both possible and amazing that I had never thought of them before (the best ideas always seem to be like that). The examples from her children, who face vastly greater challenges than my own, and yet have had access to this great store of classical education are so inspirational.The points that she makes about looking beyond the purely practical nature of a subject that tends toward limiting the education of a special needs student to only things deemed to be life skills toward what will strengthen the mind and expand the horizons of that child are something I have never encountered in any educational literature before–especially in things targeted to special needs students. Yet, it feels so right.This book articulates the things that I have always wanted for my children, and blazes a trail toward those goals.”-Miah

“Cheryl Swope’s Simply Classical is inspiring, touching, delightful, well-written, useful, and very informative. It is a book you will not only enjoy reading, but will want to keep for all the special-needs resources in the back of the book. It will inspire and give hope to parents and teachers of any child.”
-Iris Hatfield, author of New American Cursive

Cheryl Swope, M.Ed., author of Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child and the Simply Classical Curriculum, Memoria Press.

With a master’s degree in special education, Cheryl holds lifetime K-12 state teaching certifications in learning disabilities and behavior disorders. She has served in public and private schools. Cheryl and her husband adopted boy/girl twins and homeschooled the children through high school. Both twins have autism, learning disabilities, and schizophrenia. Now young adults, their enduring love of literature, history, and Latin inspire Cheryl to share the hopeful message that a classical Christian education offers benefits to any child.